A team of monster hunters will return to Cameron Lake next month to search for a creature that locals have swapped stories about for years.

The B.C. Scientific Cryptozoology Club first visited the area last September after an invitation from Oceanside Tourism to probe for evidence of the Cameron Lake monster.

They weren’t able to shed much light on the mystery, but two large strikes on a fish finder prompted the team to return to the lake. Last year, poor weather and equipment troubles bogged down the expedition.

“What we did not establish is: What were those big readings that we obtained on the sonar? We’ve got to find out what that is,” said John Kirk, the club co-founder.

But Kirk is not optimistic that an Ogopogo-like creature lurks at the bottom of Cameron Lake — given the relatively small size of the popular recreational lake about 20 kilometres west of Parksville.

“If you had an apex predator that was seriously big, that food source could diminish pretty quickly,” he said.

A sturgeon someone dumped in the lake as a prank, for example, could be behind large blips on the fish finder.

“As long as it remains a mystery, it’s incumbent upon us to come back,” Kirk said.

The team will be at Cameron Lake Sept. 13-15.

The club says it has received reports about a creature in Cameron Lake since 2004.Dustin WalkerPostmedia News

About John KirkOne of the founders of the BCSCC, John Kirk has enjoyed a varied and exciting career path. Both a print and broadcast journalist, John Kirk has in recent years been at the forefront of much of the BCSCC’s expeditions, investigations and publishing. John has been particularly interested in the phenomenon of unknown aquatic cryptids around the world and is the author of In the Domain of the Lake Monsters (Key Porter Books, 1998).
In addition to his interest in freshwater cryptids, John has been keenly interested in investigating the possible existence of sasquatch and other bipedal hominids of the world, and in particular, the Yeren of China. John is also chairman of the Crypto Safari organization, which specializes in sending teams of investigators to remote parts of the world to search for animals as yet unidentified by science. John travelled with a Crypto Safari team to Cameroon and northern Republic of Congo to interview witnesses among the Baka pygmies and Bantu bushmen who have sighted a large unknown animal that bears more than a superficial resemblance to a dinosaur.
Since 1996, John Kirk has been editor and publisher of the BCSCC Quarterly which is the flagship publication of the BCSCC. In demand at conferences, seminars, lectures and on television and radio programs, John has spoken all over North America and has appeared in programs on NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, TLC, Discovery, CBC, CTV and the BBC.
In his personal life John spends much time studying the histories of Scottish Clans and is himself the president of the Clan Kirk Society. John is also an avid soccer enthusiast and player.